1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a patient monitoring system, and in particular, to a patient monitoring system that permits accurately detailed wetness sensing and integrated caregiver management.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous devices and systems targeted to the problem of detecting and reporting wetness in a diaper or similar article. None of these systems have earned wide commercial success. Accuracy is both a persistent problem for these market participants and a heretofore unrecognized opportunity for a product that is able to detect for wetness in a diaper in a way that accounts for a variety of problems.
A number of devices and wetness detecting systems have been attempted to report when a diaper, bedding, or adult incontinence article becomes wet due to incontinence. These devices frequently report erroneous detection wet incontinent related conditions due to a variety of problems, such as: perspiration generated by the wearer of the article; fluctuations in electrostatic capacity caused, for example, by movement of the wearer of the diaper; and even climatic differences that may cause excess humidity in the diaper or similar article.
Patients and other users of diapers with bladder incontinence often share other infirmities that require the frequent attention of a caregiver. Devices that provide false wetness indications may result in a lower quality of care for the patient if the caregiver becomes conditioned to frequent erroneous reports of wetness and therefore neglects to provide a reasonable standard of care.
Some have approached this problem with attempts at permitting a nominal level of integrated caregiver management facility to this problem. These systems often focus on the passive participation of the caregiver and neglect the opportunity to fully engage the caregiver as an active participant in addressing the direct and related needs of incontinent patients, thereby missing the chance to raise the quality of care for the patient.